And those sampled instruments were copyrighted by the manufacturers: YamahaGS, RolandXM, Alesis, Korg, etc. Early hip-hop were sampling disco and R&B records and got roundly slapped once they become popular for money to be involved.
That doesn't answer the question if music composed of samples is considered original, though. It is merely a legal ruling about some music from a certain time period that a lot of people would consider original.
And those sampled instruments were copyrighted by the manufacturers: YamahaGS, RolandXM, Alesis, Korg, etc. Early hip-hop were sampling disco and R&B records and got roundly slapped once they become popular for money to be involved.
That doesn't answer the question if music composed of samples is considered original, though. It is merely a legal ruling about some music from a certain time period that a lot of people would consider original.